


Impersonating A Knight

by ezekiels



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-25
Updated: 2013-02-25
Packaged: 2017-12-03 13:45:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/698902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ezekiels/pseuds/ezekiels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. Arthur takes the place of his master, Lancelot, and Princess Guinevere notices.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Impersonating A Knight

Gwen’s heart pounded when she realised that it wasn't Sir Lancelot behind that armour. There was a distinct way that Lancelot moved, all smooth grace and endless courtesy. The man on the horse lacked all of that. There was a roughness about the way he moved in his armour and tugged at the reigns of his horse.

She recognized him instantly.

“Arthur,” Gwen breathed in shock.

“Your grace?” her maidservant Morgana asked, peering at her with concern.

“Nothing,” Gwen said quickly, blushing and glancing at her father to make sure that he had not heard. If Arthur was found out, he would be killed. It would not matter that he was trying to uphold the honour of his master. Impersonating a knight was a crime punishable by death. “I’m just relieved that Lancelot is alright.”

Morgana rolled her eyes. “A little knock off of his horse would do that knight some good.”

Gwen turned away from Morgana and back to Arthur. His presence meant that Lancelot was too injured to continue. Instead of being worried for Lancelot, she found herself fearing for Arthur. He was up against the foreign knight, Sir Garret, who had already proven himself to be more than dangerous. Sir Garret had already killed two men with his violent jousting and, although she had begged her father to throw him in jail, he was still competing.

Gwen had already seen Sir Garret nearly knock Lancelot clean from his horse. She could not bear it if he did the same to Arthur.

Arthur glanced at Gwen and inclined his head. It was an act of chivalry that Lancelot had always shown and Arthur was smart enough to know that avoiding such a ritual would make the king suspicious. Yet Gwen could feel the sincerity in the action and felt a blush rush to her cheeks.

She liked Arthur, there was no denying that. He had a gentleness about him, although more than once Gwen had experienced his rather sudden bursts of scorn. Gwen liked that about him though. He never held anything back.

Occasionally, when Gwen managed to sneak away from Morgana and the accompanying guard that always followed her, she would sneak down to the dirty tournament grounds that were left all but abandoned most of the year. She would watch him practice sword fighting, jousting, and archery for hours. His friend Merlin, the son of a knight and a future scholar, would often sit in the stands and read aloud from a book that he had managed to smuggle out of the court physician’s lab. Occasionally, Morgana would wander by, searching for Gwen, and stop for several moments to talk to them. Morgana and Merlin would joke about Gwen’s continuous wandering offs while Arthur never failed to defend her, blushing and stumbling over his words as he did. 

Simply watching him from a distance made Gwen like Arthur more than Lancelot. While Arthur was gentle and firm, Lancelot was sharp and fickle. Not to say that Gwen did not love her childhood friend. She did care for Lancelot very deeply. He was her closest and dearest friend. There was just something different about Arthur. Lancelot was like the cool darkness of night while Arthur was the warm brightness of day. It was that harsh difference that had drawn Gwen to Arthur. It was that difference that had made Gwen care deeply for Arthur even though they had met on very few occasions.

“Be careful,” Gwen whispered as Arthur turned away to face Sir Garret.

***

Arthur waited for the flag to come down with a pounding heart.

He should have done as Lancelot had told him. He should have run to the king and told him that Sir Garret was cheating. Instead, he had found himself in Lancelot’s armour and on a horse. Even if Arthur had gone to the king, Lancelot would have been viewed as cowardly. Arthur would not have anyone believing his master to be a coward.

Beneath him, Lancelot’s horse shifted nervously. Arthur stroked her neck gently with his free hand. “You’ll be fine, Elaine,” he whispered. “Be strong.”

The flag was waved.

Arthur snatched up his reigns and urged Elaine forward. She shot forward like an arrow. Arthur tightened his grip on the lance, trying not to get too frustrated that the armour was hindering his aim. 

He was a better jouster than Sir Garret. He could defeat him.

It happened so fast that Arthur barely even registered the pain. He felt the tip of Sir Garret’s lance slap straight through his armour. Something cold and metallic sunk into his shoulder.

Arthur passed out before he even felt the pain.

***

_All Arthur could see was her._

_Guinevere._

_Guinevere as she helped fight for an outlying village even though she did not need to. Guinevere as she came to see Arthur when he had fallen ill even though he was just a servant and not worthy of her time. Guinevere as she handed Lancelot her favour before the match just as she always did, but glancing at Arthur as she left._

_Then, impossibly, he saw both him and Guinevere in the throne room, dressed in the colours of the old Pendragon line. Surely, he was dreaming because they were kissing and the whole court was cheering. It could not possibly be a vision. He was not Morgana. He did not have visions._

_Gwen smiled up at him and touched his cheek. “My king,” she whispered._

***

Gwen gasped, thinking for a moment that Arthur was about to fall from his horse. Through some stroke of luck, he tightened his hold on his reigns, abandoning his lance. He sat forward, hunching over his horse as crimson lines of blood bleed over his armour for all to see.

She abandoned her seat and ran from her throne, heart pounding.

Gwen’s guard and Morgana hurried after her.

Servants leapt out of her way when she reached the dusty tournament grounds. She ran, without caring that it might seem improper, towards the end of the tournament grounds where Merlin was trying to get Arthur down from his horse.

“No,” Arthur growled, shoving Merlin away. “I’m fine.”

“Arthur,” Gwen gasped, coming to a stop beside his horse.

Arthur turned to her, too sluggish from his blood loss to jump. “Your grace?” he asked in disbelief.

“Get down from your horse,” Gwen pleaded. “You’re hurt.”

Arthur shook his head. “I can still win this.”

“You’re going to get yourself killed, you dollophead,” Merlin growled, trying to get Arthur to dismount.

Arthur shoved Merlin away. “Lance,” he commanded.

“Arthur,” Merlin growled.

Arthur held his hand out. “Lance!”

Merlin did not move but Gwen did. A strange force seemed to have taken control of her body, sending her running to where another lance waited. She grabbed it and ran back to them.

“Thank you, your grace,” Arthur whispered weakly, inclining his head as he took the lance from her.

“Be careful,” Gwen pleaded.

“I’ll be fine,” Arthur said, reaching to his injured shoulder with his free hand. “He doesn’t have a weapon to use against me now.” He gripped something at his shoulder and pulled. Gwen could not see Arthur’s face but she could tell from his gasp that he was in pain. He dropped something metallic and covered in blood to the ground.

The flag was waved and he took off without a pause.

Gwen grabbed the metallic object he had dropped and gasped when she realized what it was. The metallic tip Sir Garret had added to all of his lances was more than it appeared. The fist that it formed had a distinct hole and through that protruded a long metal spike.

She glanced up and watched as Arthur and Sir Garret raced towards each other.

***

Arthur’s mind and eyes felt heavy. He knew it was the blood loss but it was too late to turn back. He and Sir Garret were racing towards each other.

This time, he would win.

He leveled his lance just so.

Moments before Sir Garret could even attempt to pull another dirty trick, Arthur stabbed his lance forward. He couldn’t recall if it was cheating and he didn’t much care. All that mattered was that the force of the blow knocked Sir Garret off his horse.

Tugging on his reigns, Arthur slowed Elaine and slowly turned her around.

He felt arms on him then, yanking him off of Elaine with more force that Merlin would ever dare use. He fell to the ground, his shoulder screaming with pain.

“You stubborn bastard!” Sir Garret shouted.

Arthur heard the sound of two swords meeting.

He blinked fiercely and stared when he saw that he had managed to unsheathe his sword and block Garret’s blow. He tried to shove Garret away but he was too weak. Black dots were swimming around Arthur’s vision and he knew it would not be long before he passed out.

A horrible scream of a horse ripped through the air.

Elaine whirled around and reared, kicking Garret hard in the face. He fell to the ground, gasping, but Elaine was not through with him yet. She reared once more and brought her hooves down hard on Garret’s chest.

Arthur heard something snap.

He knew without looking that Garret was dead.

Elaine abandoned Garret and turned to Arthur. She nudged his helmet with her nose.

Arthur touched her nose gently. “I’m okay, girl,” he whispered. “It’s okay.”

Elaine shifted away suddenly and Arthur reached out for her, wondering why she was leaving. Then hands were touching him and Merlin was cursing. Arthur smiled, letting himself relax as he was lifted from the ground.

“Arthur? Arthur, can you hear me?”

Arthur forced himself to see through the dark spots in his vision. Guinevere was following alongside him, her expression contorted with worry.

He smiled and closed his eyes. “I can hear you.”

“Don’t fall asleep,” she ordered.

Arthur pried his eyes open. “I’m not going anywhere,” he whispered.

Gwen smiled through her worry. “I know.”


End file.
